While his brother Mattia he is already in Rwanda competing in the road world championships, Philip Augustine He is back from the Tour of Slovakia, one of the last road races of his season in the ranks of the Biesse Carrera. His future is already marked and, like that of his brother, passes through the arrival atEF Education EasyPost, WorldTour team, but the details of the transfer are still to be defined.
In cross country together, maybe even on the road
The two brothers will join the American team in a few weeks, forming, together with a Luxembourg rider, the core of the nascent cyclocross team. This should be the case the prelude to their arrival at the road team, but there is no official confirmation on this aspect yet nor is it clear in what terms, if in I have to team up or in the senior team and this is important, also to understand how the two will be able to face the winter season.
There are many things to think about and Filippo, found at the airport, willingly lends himself to the reasoning: «The Americans had taken an interest in my brother this winter, already after winning the European title, and then the contacts continued and everything developed a bit. My results on the road this year interested the management, who decided to build a structure around us for cross. The team was created only for bureaucratic reasonsBecause we didn't have licenses with other teams in 2025, we couldn't compete with their jersey until we signed up in January. But they wanted us to play the entire cross-country season with them, and so the new team is allowing us to do so on a temporary loan basis."
Did they provide you with all the support you needed, considering that cyclocross is a completely new discipline for them?
Yes, the support is complete even if there are some details still to be defined and on which they are working. As for the next activity, the one on the road, there is no official confirmation yet, it will be the team that will make the announcement and explain the terms.
Will you be following the entire cyclocross season?
Mattia yes, he follows it all. As soon as I get back from Rwanda, I'll start the first Italian races. I'll finish the road season on the 19th with the Veneto Classic and then go on vacation for a couple of weeks. And I'll be back in cross-country racing in December. This year, I'm having a somewhat shortened season, also missing out on the European Championships.
Will you have a more internationally focused season?
I imagine so, but Mattia will still be racing in Italy until the European Championships, because it's his first year in the new category and he needs to recover some UCI points to start at the front in the continental race. I have some UCI points from last year and I can afford to go until December without racing.But from December onwards there will only be international competitions. In Italy, we're basically only competing in the World Cup in Sardinia and the Italian Championship in January.
Was the big leap in quality on the road you made this year also due to what you did in cyclocross?
Certainly, and we also agree with the team management to continue. The team is on our wavelength, it makes us keep the cross especially to develop our skills on the roadEspecially considering my brother, who's increasingly becoming a one-day and classic racer. We've seen in recent years how the two disciplines can be seamlessly combined; you just need to know how to plan ahead.
And what did this season tell you?
On the road I have definitely made further improvements, in fact I managed to win my first races, both at Giro Next Gen than in the Aosta ValleyI'm still not sure what kind of rider I'll become, but I'm already more aware of myself than I was last year.
In what way did you particularly notice this leap in quality?
Especially on a mental level, because last year at the end of the season I already saw that I could be up there with the best. This year with Biesse I also changed the calendar, I was able to go and have more international experiences, races that I had never done and I showed that I can be there, that I am at that level.
How important is it that you and your brother continue your business together?
Well, it's definitely a good thing. Mattia is young, so I think I can still guide him for a few more years, at least in terms of moral support. I think it's more important for him, but it's also nice for me to have him on the team. Every now and then I tell him something, but especially in the cross, some small tactical trick, something that he still gets wrong, but it's all part of the learning processHe's still a first-year under, so he needs to gain experience, and he's also expected to make mistakes. But he has an innate ability to read the race that I, for example, didn't have.
